A blog based on dealing with the every day trials of having a dog, from training, to traveling, to just plain sitting at home watching your new puppy chew up your couch.

Seraphim Says Hello

Monday, July 26, 2010

Taking the Dog for a Walk (Or you being taken for a walk)

“Seraphim don’t pull!” Yup you bet it, I keep telling her to not pull.We’ve tried the haltie that goes around her nose and stops her from pulling, and it does work quiet well. however; people tend to think that she’s vicious with it on, and thinks that its a muzzle. Seraphim is not vicious, big and overpowering…Yes.

Butterball just tangles us up and we sigh softly as we try to dodge her leash. Honestly I’m not sure which is worse, getting pulled at max speed by my husky, or being tripped by our fat puppy. The experts say that you should give a sharp tug on the leash to regain the dog’s attention. Yeah that works, really. My dogs just look at me like “what do you want? Can’t you see I’m pulling here!?”

The halties, as said before work perfectly fine, they pull and then get shocked when their nose goes into their chests and they’re going to go head over heels. Its rather affordable ($20 per collar), and compared to the alternative (my arms being so sore after a walk)…and honestly we’ve tried other options (a choke chain was just a joke for Seraphim, she just pulled and strangled herself, so I stopped that routine immediately before she killed herself). So what’s the big deal?

In the end, when you look at it, your dog wants to go they get excited and yes with practice Seraphim will walk beside us. We use specific techniques, such as we umbilical (or wrap the leash around your waist) her leash, and using the sharp tug, as well as tapping her side with our foot (not hard, just enough to get her to look at us, so more like a touch really) we’ve managed to get it so she doesn’t synch our waists.

With Butter she’s too small to umbilical yet, and a sharp tug is still enough. Remember your dog’s size determines the tug. The tug should be firm, but not send the animal flying. Also look for a strong rope leash, we use the trail style strong rope type with Seraphim, it works, she can tug and tug and tug and it doesn’t give. We’ve gotten it wet and it doesn’t shrink, its perfect.

Butter’s leash is a vanity one, its a fake leather leash and it is coming apart so we’ve bought her one like Seraphim’s. Always look at the dog’s size, and weight when determining the leash style. If your dog is a classic puller don’t get a retraceable leash, you’ll get rope burn when they run around you. Honestly, taking your dog for a walk is best every day. So do so wisely.

1) Walk around the same time – consistency in a walk time means that the dog will look forward to it, and then you two can get some great times together.

2) Use the best equipment – There are collars that are 1/2 chain and 1/2 material. These are best for training on a walk because they don’t harm the dog, but do tighten when the dog pulls. If you can find one, buy ten!

3) Be confident in your strides – Remember in high school, when all the popular people would ignore the not so popular people, they didn’t need to talk to anyone everyone wanted to talk to them. Be like that to your dog, no touch, no talk, and no eye contact. Project that you are confident person in your own skin and that you’re able to control the situation.

4) Make it fun – Stop at ponds, look around and have fun. The dog will know that you’re enjoying it and enjoy it too!

3 comments:

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If you like this infographic and want to share it with your readers, please feel free to do so. The only thing that we ask in return is that you link back to TheUncommonDog dot com in some way from your post.

As a way of showing our appreciation to those who choose to share the infographic, I'd be happy to spread the word about the blog post by linking to it from our Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ pages. Just let me know that you posted it and send me the link.

If you'd like to be removed from our contact list, please let me know.